Nearly 10,000 preschoolers with special education needs and disabilities in New York City did not receive their legally mandated services that the city’s Department of Education is required to provide, a report released Tuesday revealed.
Preschool students in New York City received fewer of their mandated speech, physical, and occupational therapies in the 2021-22 school year compared to the previous two years.
“Instead of cutting funding, the city must make the investment needed to hire enough special education teachers, service providers, and evaluators to meet its basic legal obligations to preschoolers with disabilities,” Sweet said. The compliance rates for the three of the most common services, speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy, “have been trending in the wrong direction,” according to the report.
Thousands of preschoolers with special education needs, especially those who are Asian, Black, or Hispanic/Latinx, were less likely to receive their special education services during the 2021-22 school year, a report released by Advocates for Children showed.The issue is still indicative of a broader systemic issue. There were no school districts that fully served even 85% of its preschoolers with disabilities enrolled in 3-K and Pre-K for All programs, the data found.
Even after the DOE acknowledged that Bell’s son needs speech therapy in January, the administration was unable find a therapist. “He has not received any speech and or any PT,” she said. “Trying to manage our child’s needs and our needs as parents, it is a lot of work and advocacy and stress.” “Seeing these numbers is really staggering,” she said. “I’ve come to realize we’re not alone in having trouble getting these services. It’s really tough to even fathom how this is going to improve. Honestly, it’s frightening.”
In 2022-23 school year, the DOE extended the hours of the PRAC team, which the administration said enabled more students to receive evaluations. The DOE stated that there are plans to extend those hours again for the 2023-24 school year. Heather Clarke, a disability advocate and adjunct professor of special education and child development, told amNewYork Metro that the current crisis is why “there has been such a push from those of us who are advocates for pay parity” between DOE special education staff and special education contractors.
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